1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the compounding of medications, and more particularly, to the preparation of mixtures of a viscous carrier and the active pharmaceutical agents, and to the preparation of unit doses delivery systems from compounded formulations of a viscous carrier and active pharmaceutical agents.
2. Related Art
The need for pharmacists to be able to perform in-house compounding of pluronic lecithin organogels (herein after referred to as PLO gels) is progressively increasing, due to the improvement of transdermal carriers and the lack of availability of pre-compounded formulations.
A problem encountered by a pharmacist compounding the formulation is the inability to readily blend the active ingredients and the PLO gel. A simple blending operation is inadequate to achieve the required uniform distribution of active ingredients in the PLO gel. This fundamental problem extends to the blending of active ingredients in other carriers, to produce compounded ointments, salves, balms, creams, gel, liniments, emulsions, colloids, and the like.
A related or similar problem exists in the transferring of viscous carriers from mixing containers to unit dose syringes, or similar dispenser. There is a critical need for the caregiver or patient to be able to measure the exact dose.